FORT WORTH, Texas -- No.8 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Finals after coming back from a break down in the first set to defeat No.6 seeds Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan, 7-6(2), 6-3. Krawczyk and Schuurs finished their round-robin campaign with a 2-1 record and will join top seeds and defending champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the semifinals out of the Rosie Casals Group. 

"They're a great team," Krawczyk said. "We just did what we did best and started being aggressive and taking it to them. In the pressure situations, I think we did a great job playing smart in those moments."

Schuurs has now advanced to her third consecutive semifinal at the WTA Finals with her third different partner. This is new territory for Krawczyk, who qualified for her first WTA Finals last year in Guadalajara with Alexa Guarachi, but failed to advance. 

Krawczyk and Schuurs maintained their dominance over the Chinese duo, improving to 3-0 this season without the loss of a set. But in the win-and-in high-pressure showdown, Xu and Yang had the upper hand early. 

An early break gave them a 2-0 lead and they served for the opening set at 5-4. But a strong return game from Krawczyk and Schuurs earned them their first break of the match and they wrenched back the momentum from there. 

With Krawczyk's intelligent angles and Schuurs' net craft, the American-Dutch duo took control of the match and sealed the win after 1 hour and 34 minutes. 

Top seeds Krejcikova and Siniakova closed out group play by staying undefeated, beating Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-1.